Translating the gothic tradition: St Patrick's Cathedral Melbourne

During the 1850s, England and France were the leading centres of debate over the Gothic Revival. As Barry Bergdoll argues, the issues that loomed large were at once architectural and political: stylistic eclecticism versus national purity, invention versus tradition, nationalism versus cosmopolitanism, as well as the challenge of new building programmes and new materials to the historicist logic of the Gothic Revival position. William Wilkinson Wardell (1823-99), the architect of St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (1858-97) found himself in the midst of this debate. ln.,1858, Wardell's client, James Alipius Goold, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Melbourne, found that local circumstances significantly influenced his aspirations for a new Catholic cathedral for Melbourne. The choices Wardell made eventually gave shape to the Gothic Revival in Australia.The New World perhaps echoing Didron, demanded of the past all it could offer the present and especially the future: a Gothic cathedral was deemed a fitting carrier of the principles, morals, beliefs and spirit of a Christian civilisation. Unlike many of his contemporaries in Britain and Europe, Wardell in Australia was to see his Gothic Cathedrals of St Patrick's and St Mary's substantially realised in his lifetime. This paper presents a building history of Wardell's St Patrick's, Melbourne, and critically examines the translations which are embedded in the design and fabric of this nineteenth-century Gothic revival cathedral.

A contribution to the history of assessment: how a conversation simulator redeems Socratic method

Assessment in education is a recent phenomenon. Although there were counterparts in former epochs, the term assessment only began to be spoken about in education after the Second World War; and, since that time, views, strategies and concerns over assessment have proliferated according to an uncomfortable dynamic. We fear that, increasingly, education is assessment-led rather than learning-led and ‘counter to what is desired’ in an ugly judgemental spirit whose moral underpinnings deserve scrutiny. In this article, we seek to historicise assessment and the anxieties of credentialising students. Through this longer history, we present a philosophy of assessment which underlies the development of a new method in assessment-as-learning. We hope that our development of a conversation simulator helps restore the innocence of education as learning-led, while still delivering on the incumbencies of assessment.

The totalitarian dynamic behind HRM's democratic façade

The terms 'authoritarian' and 'democratic' are political concepts often applied as a means of distinguishing human resource management (HRM) from older forms of labour management, the common assertion being that former authoritarian practices have become more democratic under HRM. This article challenges this view by arguing that the foundational principles and practices of HRM, when orientated by the expectations of a 'desired' organisational culture, cast it into a role that involves mobilising the collective psychology of organisational members to accept willingly the legitimacy of managerial authority and the virtues of firm loyalty. It is suggested that such a role has no parallel in orthodox democratic arrangements; that if political concepts are to be applied to the way labour is managed under HRM, a clearer affinity exists with the aims and practices of totalitarian regimes and their use of propaganda and other means to control civilian populations. Key points: This article challenges the assumption that HRM is cast in the spirit of democracy. HRM's foundational principles and functional practices are instead more closely aligned with totalitarian conceptions of social control. This is evidenced by HRM's role in mobilising the collective psychology of employees in accordance with a 'desired' workplace culture proscribed by organisational leaderships.

When sexual infidelity triggers murder: Examining the impact of homicide law reform on judicial attitudes in sentencing

In October 2010, the UK Parliament brought into effect law that replaced the partial defence to murder of provocation with a new partial defence of ‘loss of control,’ applicable to England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Although it retained some key features of its controversial predecessor, the new partial defence was in part designed better to address the gendered contexts within which a large number of homicides are committed. In examining the impact of the reforms, we will focus on long-held concerns about the treatment of sexual infidelity as a trigger for loss of control in murder cases. The article undertakes an analysis of English case law to evaluate the way in which sexual infidelity-related evidence has influenced perceptions of a homicide defendant’s culpability, for the purposes of sentencing, both before and after the implementation of reform. The analysis reveals that, in sentencing offenders post reform, the higher courts have failed to follow the spirit of the reforms respecting the substantive law by effecting a corresponding change in sentencing practice.

After 30 years of dissemination, have we achieved sustained practice change in motivational interviewing?

AIMS: Motivational interviewing (MI) is the most successfully disseminated evidence-based practice in the substance use disorder (SUD) treatment field. This systematic review considers two questions relevant to policymakers and service providers: (1) does training in MI achieve sustained practice change in clinicians delivering SUD treatment; and (2) do clinicians achieve a level of competence after training in MI that impacts upon client outcomes? METHODS: A systematic review was conducted and reported in line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement, examining training outcomes for MI in the SUD treatment sector, and for clinicians working in a SUD treatment role. We determined a training method to have resulted in sustained practice change when over 75% of participants met beginning proficiency in MI spirit at a follow-up time-point. RESULTS: Of the 20 studies identified, 15 measured training at a follow-up time-point using standard fidelity measures. The proportion of clinicians who reached beginning proficiency was either reported or calculated for 11 of these studies. Only two studies met our criterion of 75% of clinicians achieving beginning proficiency in MI spirit after training. Of the 20 studies identified, two measured client substance use outcomes with mixed results. CONCLUSIONS: A broad range of training studies failed to achieve sustained practice change in MI according to our criteria. It is unlikely that 75% of clinicians can achieve beginning proficiency in MI spirit after training unless competency is benchmarked and monitored and training is ongoing. The impact of training on client outcomes requires future examination.

Assumptions of decision-making capacity: the role supporter attitudes play in the realisation of Article 12 for people with severe or profound intellectual disability

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) was the first legally binding instrument explicitly focused on how human rights apply to people with disability. Amongst their obligations, consistent with the social model of disability, the Convention requires signatory nations to recognise that “…persons with disabilities enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others in all aspects of life” and mandates signatory nations to develop “…appropriate measures to provide access by persons with disability to the support they may require in exercising their legal capacity”. The Convention promotes supported decision-making as one such measure. Although Australia ratified the UNCRPD in 2008, it retains an interpretative declaration in relation to Article 12 (2, 3, 4), allowing for the use of substituted decision-making in situations where a person is assessed as having no or limited decision-making capacity. Such an outcome is common for people with severe or profound intellectual disability because the assessments they are subjected to are focused on their cognition and generally fail to take into account the interdependent nature of human decision-making. This paper argues that Australia’s interpretative declaration is not in the spirit of the Convention nor the social model of disability on which it is based. It starts from the premise that the intention of Article 12 is to be inclusive of all signatory nations’ citizens, including those with severe or profound cognitive disability. From this premise, arises a practical need to understand how supported decision-making can be used with this group. Drawing from evidence from an empirical study with five people with severe or profound intellectual disability, this paper provides a rare glimpse on what supported decision-making can look like for people with severe or profound intellectual disability. Additionally, it describes the importance of supporters having positive assumptions of decision-making capacity as a factor affecting supported decision-making. This commentary aims to give a focus for practice and policy efforts for ensuring people with severe or profound cognitive disability receive appropriate support in decision-making, a clear obligation of signatory nations of the UNCRPD. A focus on changing supporter attitudes rather than placing the onus of change on people with disability is consistent with the social model of disability, a key driver of the UNCRPD.